To Leo the Tenth, Pope at Rome: Martin Luther wishes thee salvation in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
[Sidenote: The Pope's Person]
In the midst of the monsters of this age with whom I am now for the
third year waging war, I am compelled at times to look up also to
thee, Leo, most blessed Father, and to think of thee; nay, since thou
art now and again regarded as the sole cause of my warfare, I cannot
but think of thee always. And although the causeless raging of thy
godless flatterers against me has compelled me to appeal from thy See
to a future council, despite those most empty decrees of thy
predecessors Pius and Julius, who with a foolish tyranny forbade such
an appeal, yet I have never so estranged my mind from thy Blessedness
as not with all my heart to wish thee and thy See every blessing, for
which I have, as much as lay in me, besought God with earnest prayers.
It is true, I have made bold almost to despise and to triumph over
those who have tried to righten me with the majesty of thy name and
authority. But there is one thing which I cannot despise, and that is
my excuse for writing once more to thy Blessedness. I understand that
I am accused of great rashness, and that this rashness is said to be
my great fault, in which, they say, I have not spared even thy person.
For my part, I will openly confess that I know I have only spoken good
and honorable things of thee whenever I have made mention of thy name.
And if I had done otherwise, I myself could by no means approve of it,
but would entirely approve the judgment others have formed of me, and
do nothing more gladly than recant such rashness and impiety on my
part. I have called thee a Daniel in Babylon,[1] and every one who
reads knows with what zeal I defended thy notable innocence against
thy dreamer, Sylvester.[2] Indeed, thy reputation and the fame of thy
blameless life, sung as they are throughout the world by the writings
of so many great men, are too well known and too high to be assailed
in any way by any one man, however great he may be. I am not so
foolish as to attack him whom every one praises: it has rather been,
and always will be, my endeavor not to attack even those whom public
report decries; for I take no pleasure in the crimes of any man, since
I am conscious enough of the great beam in my own eye [Matt. 7:3], nor
could I be he that should cast the first stone at the adulteress [John
8:7].
[Sidenote: Luther's Enemies]
I have indeed sharply inveighed against ungodly teachings in general,
and I have not been slow to bite my adversaries, not because of their
immorality, but because of their ungodliness. And of this I repent so
little that I have determined to persevere in that fervent zeal, and
to despise the judgment of men, following the example of Christ, Who
in His zeal called His adversaries a generation of vipers, blind,
hypocrites, children of the devil [Matt. 23:13, 17, 33]. And Paul
arraigned the sorcerer as a child of the devil full of all subtilty
and mischief [Acts 13:10], and brands others as dogs, deceivers and
adulterers [Phil. 3:2; 2 Cor. 11:13; 2 Cor. 2:17]. If you will allow
those delicate ears to judge, nothing would be more biting and more
unrestrained than Paul. Who is more biting than the prophets?
Nowadays, it is true, our ears are made so delicate by the mad crowds
of flatterers that as soon as we meet with a disapproving voice we cry
out that we are bitten, and when we cannot ward off the truth with any
other pretext we put it to light by ascribing it to a fierce temper,
impatience and shamelessness. What is the good of salt if it does not
bite? Or of the edge of the sword if it does not kill? Cursed be he
that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully [Jer. 48:10].
Wherefore, most excellent Leo, I pray thee, after I have by this
letter vindicated myself, give me a hearing, and believe that I have
never thought evil of thy person, but that I am a man who would wish
thee all good things eternally, and that I have no quarrel with any
man concerning his morality, but only concerning the Word of truth. In
all things else I will yield to any man whatsoever: to give up or to
deny the Word I have neither the power nor the will. If any man thinks
otherwise of me, or has understood my words differently, he does not
think aright, nor has he understood what I have really said.
[Sidenote: The Roman Curia]
But thy See, which is called the Roman Curia, and of which neither
thou nor any man can deny that it is more corrupt than any Babylon or
Sodom ever was, and which is, as far as I can see, characterized by a
totally depraved, hopeless and notorious wickedness--that See I have
truly despised, and I have been incensed to think that in thy name and
under the guise of the Roman Church the people of Christ are mocked.
And so I have resisted and will resist that See, as long as the spirit
of faith shall live in me. Not that I shall strive after the
impossible or hope that by my lone efforts anything will be
accomplished in that most disordered Babylon, where the rage of so
many sycophants is turned against me; but I acknowledge myself a
debtor to my brethren, whom it is my duty to warn, that fewer of them
may be destroyed by the plagues of Rome, or at least that their
destruction may be less cruel.
For, as thou well knowest, these many years there has flowed forth
from Rome, like a flood covering the world, nothing but a laying waste
of men's bodies and souls and possessions, and the worst possible
examples of the worst possible things. For all this is clearer than
the day to all men, and the Roman Church, once the most holy of all,
become the most licentious den of thieves [Matt. 21:13], the most
shameless of all brothels, the kingdom of sin, death and hell; so that
even Antichrist himself, should he come, could think of nothing to add
to its wickedness.
[Sidenote: The Pope's Helplessness]
Meanwhile thou, Leo, sittest as a lamb in the midst of wolves [Matt.
10:16], like Daniel in the midst of the lions [Dan. 6:16], and, with
Ezekiel, thou dwellest among scorpions [Ezek. 2:6]. What canst thou do
single-handed, against these monsters? Join to thyself three or four
thoroughly learned and thoroughly good cardinals: what are even these
among so many? [John 6:9] You would all be poisoned before you could
undertake to make a single decree to help matters. There is no hope or
the Roman Curia: the wrath of God is come upon it to the end [1 Thess.
2:16]; it hates councils, it fears a reformation, it cannot reduce the
raging of its wickedness, and is meriting the praise bestowed upon its
mother, of whom it is written, "We have cured Babylon, but she is not
healed: let us forsake her."[3][Jer. 51:9] It was thy duty, indeed,
and that of thy cardinals, to remedy these evils, but that gout of
theirs mocks the healing hand, and neither chariot nor horse heeds the
guiding rein.[4] Moved by such sympathy for thee, I have always
grieved, most excellent Leo, that thou hast been made pope in these
times, for thou wert worthy of better days. The Roman Curia has not
deserved to have thee or men like thee, but rather Satan himself; and
in truth it is he more than thou who rules in that Babylon.
O would that thou mightest lay aside what thy most mischievous enemies
boast of as thy glory, and wert living on some small priestly income
of thine own, or on thy family inheritance! To glory in that glory
none are worthy save the Iscariots, the sons of perdition [John
17:12]. For what dost thou accomplish in the Curia, my dear Leo? Only
this: the more criminal and abominable a man is, the more successfully
will he use thy name and authority to destroy the wealth and the souls
of men, to increase crime, to suppress faith and truth and the whole
Church of God. O truly, most unhappy Leo, thou sittest on a most
dangerous throne; for I tell thee the truth, because I wish thee well.
If Bernard pitied his Pope Eugene[5] at a time when the Roman See,
although even then most corrupt, yet ruled with better prospects, why
should not we lament who have for three hundred years had so great an
increase of corruption and worthlessness? Is it not true that under
yon vast expanse of heaven there is nothing more corrupt, more
pestilential, more hateful than the Roman Curia? It surpasses the
godlessness of the Turks beyond all comparison, so that in truth,
whereas it was once a gate of heaven, it is now an open mouth of hell,
and such a mouth as, because of the wrath of God, cannot be shut;
there is only one thing that we can try to do, as I have said:
perchance we may be able to call back a few from that yawning chasm of
Rome and so save them.
Now thou seest, my Father Leo, how and why I have so violently
attacked that pestilential See: for so far have I been from raging
against thy person that I even hoped I might gain thy favor and save
thee, if I should make a strong and sharp assault upon that prison,
nay that hell of thine. For thou and thy salvation and the salvation
of many others with thee will be served by every thing that men of
ability can contribute to the confusion of this wicked Curia. They do
thy work, who bring evil upon it; they glorify Christ, who in every
way curse it. In short, they are Christians who are not Romans.
[Sidenote: Luther's Controversies]
[Sidenote: Eck]
To go yet farther, I never intended to inveigh against the Roman
Curia, or to raise any controversy concerning it. For when I saw that
all efforts to save it were hopeless, I despised it and gave it a bill
of divorcement [Deut. 24:1] and said to it, "He that is filthy, let
him be filthy still, and he that is unclean, let him be unclean
still." [Rev. 22:11] Then I gave myself to the quiet and peaceful
study of holy Scripture, that I might thus be of benefit to my
brethren about me. When I had made some progress in these studies,
Satan opened his eyes and filled his servant John Eck,[6] a notable
enemy of Christ, with an insatiable lust for glory, and thereby
stirred him up to drag me at unawares into a disputation, laying hold
on me by one little word about the primacy of the Roman Church which I
had incidentally let fall. Then that boasting braggart, frothing and
gnashing his teeth, declared that he would venture all for the glory
of God and the honor of the holy Apostolic See, and, puffed up with
the hope of misusing thy power, he looked forward with perfect
confidence to a victory over me. He sought not so much to establish
the primacy of Peter as his own leadership among the theologians of
our time; and to that end he thought it no small help if he should
triumph over Luther. When that debate ended unhappily for the sophist,
an incredible madness overcame the man: for he feels that he alone
must bear the blame of all that I have brought forth to the shame of
Rome.
[Sidenote: Cajetan]
But permit me, I pray thee, most excellent Leo, this once to plead my
cause and to make charges against thy real enemies. Thou knowest, I
believe, what dealings thy legate, Cardinal of St. Sixtus,[7] an
unwise and unfortunate, or rather, unfaithful man, had with me. When,
because of reverence for thy name, I had put myself and all my case in
his hand, he did not try to establish peace, although with a single
word he could easily have done so, since I at that time promised to
keep silent and to end the controversy, if my opponents were ordered
to do the same. But as he was a man who sought glory, and was not
content with that agreement, he began to justify my opponents, to give
them full freedom and to order me to recant, a thing not included in
his instructions. When the matter was in a fair way, his untimely
arbitrariness brought it into a far worse condition. Therefore, for
what followed later Luther is not to blame; all the blame is
Cajetan's, who did not suffer me to keep silent and to rest, as I then
most earnestly asked him to do. What more should I have done?
[Sidenote: Miltitz]
Next came Carl Miltitz,[8] also a nuncio of thy Blessedness, who after
great and varied efforts and constant going to and fro, although he
omitted nothing that might help to restore that status of the question
which Cajetan had rashly and haughtily disturbed, at last with the
help of the most illustrious prince, Frederick the Elector, barely
managed to arrange several private conferences with me. Again I
yielded to your name, I was prepared to keep silent, and even accepted
as arbiter either the archbishop of Treves or the bishop of Naumburg.
So matters were arranged. But while this plan was being followed with
good prospects of success, lo, that other and greater enemy of thine,
Eck, broke in with the Leipzig Disputation which he had undertaken
against Dr. Carlstadt. When a new question concerning the primacy of
the pope was raised, he suddenly turned his weapons against me and
quite overthrew that counsel of peace. Meanwhile Carl Miltitz waited:
a disputation was held, judges were selected; but here also no
decision was reached, and no wonder: through the lies, the tricks, the
wiles of Eck everything was stirred up, aggravated and confounded
worse than ever, so that whatever decision might have been reached, a
greater conflagration would have resulted. For he sought glory, not
the truth. Here also I let nothing undone that I ought to have
done.[9]
[Sidenote: Eck]
I admit that on this occasion no small amount of corrupt Roman
practices came to light, but whatever wrong was done was the fault of
Eck, who undertook a task beyond his strength, and, while he strove
madly for his own glory, revealed the shame of Rome to all the world.
He is thy enemy, my dear Leo, or rather the enemy of thy Curia. From
the example of this one man thou canst learn that there is no enemy
more injurious than a flatterer. For what did he accomplish with his
flattery but an evil which no king could have accomplished? To-day the
name of the Roman Curia is a stench throughout the world, and papal
authority languishes, ignorance that was once held in honor is evil
spoken of; and of all this we should have heard nothing if Eck had not
upset the counsel of peace planned by Carl and myself, as he himself
now clearly sees, and is angry, too late and to no purpose, that my
books were published. This he should have thought of when, like a
horse that whinnies on the picket-line, he was madly seeking only his
own glory, and sought only his own gain through thee at the greatest
peril to thee. The vainglorious man thought that I would stop and keep
silent at the terror of thy name; for I do not believe that he trusted
entirely to his talents and learning. Now, when he sees that I have
more courage than that and have not been silenced, he repents him too
late of his rashness and understands that there is One in heaven who
resists the proud and humbles the haughty [1 Pet. 5:5; Judith 6:15],
if indeed he does understand it at last.
[Sidenote: The Augustinians]
Since we gained nothing by this disputation except that we brought
greater confusion to the cause of Rome, Carl Miltitz made a third
attempt; he came to the fathers of the Augustinian Order assembled in
their chapter, and asked counsel in settling the controversy which had
now grown most confused and dangerous. Since, by the favor of God,
they had no hope of being able to proceed against me with violence,
some of the most famous of their number were sent to me, and asked me
at least to show honor to the person of thy Blessedness, and in a
humble letter to plead as my excuse thy innocence and mine; they said
that the affair was not yet in the most desperate state if of his
innate goodness Leo the Tenth would take a hand in it. As I have
always both offered and desired peace that I might devote myself to
quieter and more useful studies, and have stormed with so great fury
merely for the purpose of overwhelming by volume and violence of
words, no less than of intellect, those whom I knew to be very unequal
foes: I not only gladly ceased, but also with joy and thankfulness
considered it a most welcome kindness to me if our hope could be
fulfilled.
[Sidenote: Appeal to the Pope]
So I come, most blessed Father, and, prostrate before thee, I pray, if
it be possible do thou interpose and hold in check those flatterers,
who are the enemies of peace while they pretend to keep peace. But
that I will recant, most blessed Father, let no one imagine, unless he
prefer to involve the whole question in greater turmoil. Furthermore,
I will accept no rules for the interpretation of the Word of God,
since the Word of God, which teaches the liberty of all things else,
dare not be bound [2 Tim. 2:9]. Grant me these two points, and there
is nothing that I could not or would not most gladly do or endure. I
hate disputations; I will draw out no one; but then I do not wish
others to draw me out; if they do, as Christ is my Teacher, I will not
be speechless. For, when once this controversy has been cited before
thee and settled, thy Blessedness will be able with a small and easy
word to silence both parties and command them to keep the peace, and
that is what I have always wished to hear.
Do not listen, therefore, my dear Leo, to those sirens who make thee
out to be no mere man but a demigod, so that thou mayest command and
require what thou wilt. It will not be done in that fashion, and thou
wilt not succeed. Thou art a servant of servants,[10] and beyond all
other men in a most pitiable and most dangerous position. Be not
deceived by those who pretend that thou art lord of the world and
allow no one to be a Christian unless he accept thy authority; who
prate that thou hast power over heaven, hell and purgatory. These are
thy enemies and seek thy soul to destroy it [1 Kings 19:10]; as Isaiah
says, "O my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive
thee." [Isa. 3:12 (Vulgate)] They err who exalt thee above a council
and above the Church universal. They err who ascribe to thee alone the
right of interpreting Scripture; or under cover of thy name they seek
to establish all their own wickedness in the Church, and alas!
through them Satan has already made much headway under thy
predecessors. In short, believe none who exalt thee, believe those who
humble thee. For this is the judgment of God; "He hath put down the
mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." [Luke 1:52] See,
how unlike His successors is Christ, although they all would be His
vicars. And I fear that most of them have indeed been too literally
His vicars. For a vicar is a vicar only when his lord is absent. And
if the pope rules while Christ is absent and does not dwell in his
heart, what else is he but a vicar of Christ? But what is such a
Church except a mass of people without Christ? And what is such a
vicar else than antichrist and an idol? How much more correctly did
the Apostles call themselves servants of the present Christ, and not
vicars of an absent Christ!
[Sidenote: Luther Follows St. Bernard's Example]
Perhaps I am impudent, in that I seem to instruct so great, so exalted
a personage, from whom we ought all to learn, and from whom, as those
plagues of thine boast, the thrones of judges receive their decisions.
But I am following the example of St. Bernard in his book _de
consideratione ad Eugenium_, a book every pope should have by heart.
For what I am doing I do not from an eagerness to teach, but as an
evidence of that pure and faithful solicitude which constrains us to
have regard for the things of our neighbors even when they are safe,
and does not permit us to consider their dignity or lack of dignity,
since it is intent only upon the danger they run for the advantage
they may gain. For when I know that thy Blessedness is driven and
tossed about at Rome, that is, that far out at sea thou art threatened
on all sides with endless dangers, and art laboring hard in that
miserable plight, so that thou dost need even the slightest help of
the least of thy brethren, I do not think it is absurd of me, if for
the time I forget thy high office and do what brotherly love demands.
I have no desire to flatter in so serious and dangerous a matter, but
if men do not understand that I am thy friend and thy most humble
subject, there is One that understandeth and judgeth. [John 8:50]
[Sidenote: Luther's Gift]
Finally, that I may not approach thee empty-handed, blessed Father, I
bring with me this little treatise published under thy name as an omen
of peace and of good hope. From this book thou mayest judge with what
studies I would prefer to be more profitably engaged, as I could be if
your godless flatterers would permit me, and had hitherto permitted
me. It is a small thing if thou regard its bulk, but, unless I am
deceived, it is the whole of Christian living in brief form, if thou
wilt grasp its meaning. I am a poor man, and have no other gift to
offer, and thou hast no need to be made rich by any other than a
spiritual gift. With this I commend myself to thy Fatherhood and
Blessedness. May the Lord Jesus preserve thee forever. Amen.